Battle lines have been drawn among Wellington mayoral candidates over the hotly debated issue of begging in the city.
City councillors will next week consider banning begging on the streets of the capital.
Councillor Nicola Young said she supports a ban in the Golden Mile and CBD.
"They tell me that there are actually only 15 homeless people left in Wellington and they are working with them to solve it. The beggars are not the homeless.
"We need to cut off the tap of income to these beggars by saying they are not allowed to beg along the golden mile, near cash machines or in the CBD".
Three other candidates, current mayor Celia Wade-Brown and councillors Justin Lester and Jo Coughlan, all want more empathetic approaches to begging.
Chief Executive of Lifewise Moria Lawler said banning beggars has been tried in the past, without success.
"You have to think about what does that actually mean, like, how would you enforce that? What would it look like? What's the point of it?"
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